The present invention relates generally to attachments for sun visors for automobile, trucks and like motor vehicles. More particularly, the invention concerns a multiple position, adjustable sun visor attachment that includes a first extender member that is vertically adjustable relative to the sun visor by means of a manual adjustment mechanism and a second extender member that is horizontally adjustable relative to the first extender member.
A number of different types of sun visor attachments have been suggested in the past. Typically the prior art sun visors are designed so that they can be attached to the vehicle sun visor to intercept light rays which interfere with the driver""s vision. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,176 issued to Karford, discloses a visor extension unit that includes a lateral visor extension panel which is movable through a horizontal guide passage in the visor extension unit so as to effectively increase the windshield area blocked on either side of the sun visor as desired and a glare shield that is movable through a separate pocket formed in the extension unit in a downward direction beneath the sun visor. Lutz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,275 describes a housing attached to and swingable with a vehicle sun visor that accommodates primary, secondary and tertiary auxiliary visors that are selectively withdrawable through appropriate housing slots into extended positions leftward of, rightward of, and downward of the housing, respectively. Somewhat similar types of sun visor attachments are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,029 issued to Zetterlund, U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,657 issued to Arendt et al., and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,792 issued to Martin.
Unlike the prior art devices, the sun visor attachment of the present invention provides an easy-to-use sun visor attachment that uniquely comprises a first extender member having a first pair of spaced apart, generally horizontally extending guide ways and a second pair of spaced apart, generally vertically extending guide ways; a connector member for interconnecting the first extender member with the sun visor, a manually operated adjustment means connected to the connector member for controllably adjusting the position of the first extender member relative to the connector member; and a second extender member slidably received within the first pair of spaced apart guide ways for movement between first and second positions. As will be better appreciated from the discussion that follows, the manually operated adjustment means of the invention permits the precise, manual adjustment of the position of the first extender member and positively prevents any undesirable, accidental movement of the first extender member downwardly of the sun visor. This novel safety feature of the attachment of the present invention is nowhere described or suggested by the prior art known to the inventor.
The visor attachment of the present invention is of a simple, easy-to-use construction and can be used with any standard vehicle visor. Advantageously, the visor attachment can be quickly attached to a standard vehicle visor without the need for any type of hand tools.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sun visor attachment for use in motor vehicles which can be easily affixed to a vehicle sun visor and uniquely includes a first extender member that can be quickly and easily vertically adjusted relative to the sun visor to block light rays entering the vehicle windshield proximate the upper and lower central portion thereof and a second extender member that can be readily adjusted horizontally relative to the sun visor to block light rays entering the vehicle through the areas on either side of the sun visor.
A particular object of the invention is to provide a sun visor attachment of the aforementioned character in which the vertical movement of the first extender member can be precisely controlled through use of a novel, manually operated adjustment means that includes a finger operated adjustment mechanism that can be easily operated by the vehicle operator.
Another object of the invention is to provide a sun visor attachment that is pivotally movable with a vehicle sun visor.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a sun visor attachment as described in the preceding paragraphs that is of a simple construction of and can be interconnected with the vehicle sun visor without the use of any special tools.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a sun visor attachment as described in the preceding paragraphs which has a minimum number of parts, is easy to use and is inexpensive to manufacture.
These and other objects of the invention will be realized by the sun visor attachment of the present invention, the details of which are described in greater detail in the paragraphs, which follow.